{"id":311,"date":"2016-08-11T17:19:51","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T17:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/?p=311"},"modified":"2016-08-12T17:48:34","modified_gmt":"2016-08-12T17:48:34","slug":"the-other-side-of-the-fence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/the-other-side-of-the-fence\/","title":{"rendered":"The “Other Side” of the Fence"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is the hidden side of prison. The side that gets little mention in the press. The side that serves a different kind of time.<\/p>\n

I met her just as she was\u00a0entering Stony Mountain Institution\u00a0for the first time.\u00a0 She stood\u00a0in the\u00a0entrance to the prison, fear etched on her face.\u00a0 English was not her first language, her husband had just started serving a federal sentence and she was trying to drop off some personal effects.\u00a0 I noticed her standing there, uncertain of what to do, so I walked over and began to talk with her. The tears were not long in coming as she talked in broken English about her husband who had just been sentenced.\u00a0 She was trying to drop off some personal effects. She didn’t know\u00a0who to talk to and had no idea what the process was.<\/p>\n

As someone involved in\u00a0prisons for a number of years my interactions with families have been many.\u00a0 Few are aware of the burden loved ones carry: uncertainty\u00a0about their sons, fathers, boyfriend,\u00a0husbands\u00a0safety, confusing prison rules and regulations, restricted and limited contact.\u00a0 All these and many more combine to make the term,\u00a0“serving time on the outside” a reality.<\/p>\n

Over the years The Canadian Families and Corrections Network\u00a0<\/a>has worked hard to raise these concerns and provide resources\u00a0for the\u00a0families and those who have\u00a0loved ones serving time in Canadian prisons.\u00a0I would encourage you to visit their website.\u00a0 They have a wealth of information.<\/p>\n

Although Open Circle’s primary role is to provide friendship to those in prison,\u00a0sometimes\u00a0we also connect with families. Providing them with an opportunity to talk, shed a few tears, and\u00a0hear some kind words\u00a0of encouragement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is the hidden side of prison. The side that gets little mention in the press. The side that serves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open-circle"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":323,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311\/revisions\/323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.initiativesjc.org\/wpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}